Tracy Strauss
Tracy Strauss is an advanced human with the power to reduce the kinetic energy of atoms, thereby causing objects to cool or freeze. Character Overview Volume Three Tracy started out as an adviser to Governor Malden who was preparing to elect someone to fill the space on his senate seat. Tracy was sleeping with the governor to gain political favour and security. After seeing his face splashed all over the news, Tracy advised Malden to choose Nathan Petrelli for the vacant post. Whilst on her way to speak with Nathan, Tracy was approached by a local journalist who was planning to run a story on how she used to be an internet stripper and had slept with Nathan Petrelli in a Las Vegas hotel. This was in fact Niki Sanders but the fact she and Tracy were identical made it impossible for Tracy to convincingly deny that it was her. She left and spoke to Nathan, who also mistook her for Niki Sanders but agreed to think on her offer all the same. Tracy returned and found the journalist still waiting for her. He continued to provoke her and insisted that the stripper was her. Tracy realized that if he printed the story her reputation would be in shreds. She tried to take the evidence from the journalist but in her anger manifested her ability for the first time. The journalist froze and shattered right in front of her. Days after this, Tracy spoke with Nathan about the identity of Niki Sanders and went to visit her home in New Orleans. There she found Niki in a coffin and met her son Micah who also mistook her for his mother. Tracy explained her situation and Micah used his power to find information on Tracy's past. This led her to a doctor in California who told her that she was one of a set of triplets, along with Niki and Barbara, and that all three of them were injected with the DNA manipulation formula. Tracy demanded he remove her ability and nearly killed him in her anger but she soon realised he couldn't help her. Tracy returned to New York and stayed locked up at home trying to pluck up the courage to turn herself in. Eventually she became suicidal and resigned from her job. She then threw herself from a bridge and was shocked to be caught by Nathan. That night she told Nathan everything about her abilities and the two slept together. The next morning they visited Primatech and spoke with Angela who revealed that Tracy had been part of an experiment to give people synthetic abilities alongside her sisters Nikki and Barbara. She also told Nathan that his abilities were also synthetic and not an act of God as he had believed. Angela said that they had heard the Doctor from California to help them but after realising what they were playing with split up the three sisters and gave them each to different families to wait for their abilities to manifest. Tracy was furious and after opting not to trust Angela she and Nathan went to visit Doctor Suresh. Suresh saw them as ideal test subjects and had them drugged and pinned to surgical tables. Tracy however managed to free herself and showed some fine contol over her ability for the first time. Mohinder escaped and Tracy tried to free some of his victims only to be stopped by the arrival of Noah Bennet and Meredith Gordon. Meredith told her about the connections Nathan had with her and warned him against starting a relationship with him. After this Tracy and Nathan went to Pinehearst an met Arthur Petrelli, who told them of his plans. Nathan needed some time to think and left Tracy to return to New York. However Tracy walked back into Pinehearst and said she saw sense in Arthur's plan and promised to get Nathan on their side. After this she returned to Primatech and spoke on the phone secretly to Arthur, giving him constant updates. After this she had a section of the American army brought out to Pinehearst in order to have them injected with the new formula Arthur had perfected to give people abilities. Nathan discovered this and soon warmed to the idea before taking control over the entire operation. They then injected a troop called Scott with the formula which gave him instantly enhanced strength. However not long after this Peter Petrelli arrived with the Haitian and Sylar before shooting Arthur stone dead. Peter teamed up with newly rebelled agents Knox and Flint to destroy the formula in its entity. Knox attacked Nathan but Tracy arrived and killed him with her ability. Nathan then realised the operation was on a downward spiral and fired Tracy who took matters into her own hands. She broke into the safe containing the perfected formula instructions and attempted to steal them, only to be discovered and knocked out by Hiro Nakamura and Daphne Millbrook. Later Tracy opted to take a phial of the formula wth her instead. She picked up the now cured Doctor Suresh and offered to let him recreate the formula and change history. He however refused and stole the formula from her. He later destroyed it once and for all. Volume Four After the destruction of Pinehearst and the abandonement of the plan to give people powers Tracy returned to Washington and resumed her job as Governor Malden's advisor (among other things). 2 months later Tracy had just returned to her apartment. She recieved a phone call from the governor alerting her to the fact that Nathan Petrelli was being interviewed on television. She assured the Governor that she no longer had or wanted any involvement with Nathan before ending the call (insisting to him that she did need 'some sleep'). Seconds later Tracy discovered one of her windows had been opened. She closed it and turned to find herself facing a government officer. Tracy attempted to freeze him but her ability couldnt penetrate the thermal clothing he was wearing. Tracy shoved past him and fled to her living room where she met a whole group of the armed men. They pushed her into the middle of the room. She told them to screw themselves if they wanted her to beg because she didnt beg for anyone. The leader of the squad then proceeded to taser her and have her hands covered with insulated gloves. He removed his hood and phoned Nathan Pitrelli exclaiming that they'd 'gotten the first one'. Later Tracy was seen being forced onto a transport plane. She had been hooded, drugged and dressed in an orange jump-suit. On the flight Claire managed to free Tracy along with the others. While attempting to fight off the guards Peter Pitrelli accidentally absorbed Tracys power and froze the interior wall of the aircraft. The wall shattered and the plane crashed into a remote area of Arkansas. After the crash Tracy escaped and ran for the wild. There she was caught up to by Peter who offered to help her get away. Together they subdued two guards and Tracy suggested that they contact Nathan, saying that they thought alike and probably had similar goals. She managed to contact Nathan. She told him that she had Peter and would gladly hand him over if he promised to let her go and deny her involvement in what he was doing. Nathan pretended to agree with her and the pair met on Tracys terms. Peter instructed her to get close to Nathan and subdue him with her power. Tracy approached Nathan with hostility but he managed to win her over by promising her a free pass out of the whole operation. Peter intervened and held a gun to Nathans head. However Nathan then revealed that he had not come alone as he had promised he would. Peter absorbed his brothers ability and flew away leaving Tracy to be captured by Nathans men. Later Nathan visited Tracy in a sealed room where she was being guarded by Jason and Rachel Mills. She was once again drugged and hooded. He tried to convince her that what they were doing was right but she bought none of it and shouted that he was one of them. However before she could reveal that he had an ability too she was sedated. Later that week Tracy was transported to Building 26. They tried to keep her safe by using insulated gloves on her but her power had developed to a stage where she could freeze them to the point where they would shatter. Instead they opted to keep her shackled to a chair under intense thermal lamps that generated so much heat she couldn't use her ability. A government agent named Abbie Collins came to acess the progress of Nathans operation and demanded to see Tracy. She was horrified to see what they were doing to her and branded it as torture and a violation of human rights especially considering how high of status Tracy was. Abbie then promised to shut down the program. a few hours later Tracy realized that her chains were loose. She pulled them up off the ground and found that the doors were unlocked. She escaped and grabbed the nearest employee, a man named Mark Legget. Nathan, Abbie and the guards surrounded her. Nathan tried to reason with her but she was too far gone to listen. Her captive tried to escape but she casually froze him and shattered him against the wall. One of the guards shot then shot her with a taser dart. Abbie was horrified and decided that evolved humans were dangerous and promised Nathan all the support he needed. Nathan spoke to Tracy and told her he didn't know how she did it but she was never getting out again. Tracy laughed at this and answered that she knew that he had wanted her to escape and that he had loosened the chains and unlocked the door. She didn't know that it was in fact Danko who had done this. Before Nathan left her Tracy vowed that the next time she would escape no matter what. After a power outage caused by Rebel, Tracy, Mohinder, Matt, and the unconscious Daphne escape their prison. Tracy decides to split from the group and heads to a shopping mall where she steals some clothes. However, Noah Bennet tracked her down and offered her a place on the outskirts of the war in exchange for giving the government Rebel. Tracy agrees, although she does not know who Rebel actually is. Tracy leaves the shopping mall and while passing an ATM machine, finds several 100 dollars waiting for her in the machine along with a message with information about a locker where she will find a new identity. Tracy hails a cab to the station where the locker is located, but her triplet sister, Nikki's, son Micah follows her there. Upon arriving, Micah reveals to Tracy he is Rebel. Tracy, shocked because she did not know he was Rebel, flees with him just as agents swarm the building. Micah is angry at Tracy for even thinking about turing in her own kind for her own purposes. Government agents surround Tracy and Micah in a parking garage,, and Tracy, determined to make up for her mistake, tells Mika to turn on the sprinklers in the garage. She then tells Micah to flee and walks out to meet the agents. Tracy uses her power to freeze the water coming out of the sprinklers and both she, and the agents are frozen cold. Danko arrives and fires his gun point blank at Tracy's frozen body and she shatters. Noah arrives and is shocked by her death, but just as the agents leave, Tracy's frozen smashed head winks, and a tear runs down her cheek, suggesting that she may still be alive. Tracy returns in the season finale, shown suffocating several government employees with a new found power, being able to turn her body into water. Volume Five Tracy returns when she tries to drown Noah Bennett. It is clear that this was her when the door of Noah's car freezes on the outside as water fills the inside. When she is attacked with knives, water replaces her organs and blood refusing to let her die. Advanced Human Powers Tracy has the power to freeze things. Her power is artificial and was injected into her shortly after her birth but only manifested when she was 32 years old when she was in a very stressful situation. With her power she can lower the temperature of organic and synthetic material to the point where it freezes and in some cases shatters. It was noted by Nathan Petrelli that Tracy does not in fact lose any of her own body heat when using her power and her hands remain the same temperature even when she is channeling her power through them. So far Tracy's power has only been shown to work through contact with the object/person she is trying to freeze and she has only ever used her hands to do this. Although very strong, Tracy's power can be nullified by means of drugs or a powerful and constant source of heat which seems to stop her from being able to access her powers. Along side this Tracy cannot freeze through thermal clothing. She has been shown to fully freeze a human, a rose, a glass, a telephone and shatter through insulated gloves. Recently after having been kept from using her power in Building 26 for at least 3 weeks Tracy managed to generate a Cold snap. During this she let out a blue light and the entire surrounding area froze and she herself turned into pure ice. However after being shot point blank by Danko, Tracy was seen crying (a single tear ran across her face), leading to the possibility that she didn't die. In the season three finale, An Invisible Thread, Tracy is shown emerging from a puddle of water on the floor of a former Building 26 agent's home. This suggests that Tracy can now become (and possibly manipulate) water. Personality Tracy is fiercely independent and gives as good as she gets all the time. She isn't afraid to fight for what she wants and even went as far as to have sex with her employer just to make sure he wouldn't sack her. She doesn't beg for anyone either as shown when she is attacked by Danko's squad. At first Tracy was confused and terrified of her power and soon entered depression and tried to kill herself. She had a brief sexual relationship with Nathan Petrelli and agreed to help Arthur Petrelli in his plan to create a synthetic race of super-soldiers using the formula. She has also shown huge levels of aggression and desire for vengeance such as when she kills an innocent bystander when trying to escape captivity in building 26 just to show how far she is willing to go. She is self confident and never gives up.